


they're all that I can see

by Yotsubadancesintherain5



Category: Super Mario & Related Fandoms
Genre: Deconstruction, F/M, Fluff, Soulmates, Two Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-26 19:20:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20394835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yotsubadancesintherain5/pseuds/Yotsubadancesintherain5
Summary: The world was never going to burst into color.





	1. confused about how as well

The world was grey. The world would only become colorful if someone found their soulmate, and every household had a color chart to mark this newfound phenomenon.

It was said, because of this phenomenon, “You’ll only be truly happy with your soulmate.” Until someone found their soulmate they got a speck of color, at random, and even then that color didn’t stain everything it belonged to in the world.

A soulmate sounded romantic and wonderful. Lead on by destiny’s threads until they found each other and the world burst into color.

When Luigi met Daisy he thought she was a whirlwind that would’ve tangled up the gentle threads.

(In time, he wouldn’t mind.)

Slowly he got to know her. He learned that Daisy would, in fact, fight a ghost bare fisted if it was antagonistic. Luigi learned that she once accidentally broke a golf club clean in half when it slipped from her hands mid-swing. He learned that she could run for seemingly forever but always looked back to make sure he was close behind.

Luigi learned, on an outing that turned from sunny to rainy skies, that she enthusiastically returned his affections when he spontaneously kissed her as the rain cascaded around them.

She got her speck of color on their first date. It was the color of his eyes, and she made a shriek that was about two octaves higher above her normal voice.

Later Daisy would say that she liked the color of his eyes. It was a pretty shade. Luigi couldn’t even see his own eye color in the mirror. But it was nice, that she found color in a small part of him.

They’d flipped over his color chart on their second date, playful “Ooh’s,” and “Ahh’s,” over the grey circles and the labels above them. She pointed out the one marked, “blue.”

And then a few months later Luigi caught a glimpse at her eyes and the grey had turned to something entirely new. He managed to swallow down his shock, miraculously, and later checked the chart to see that it was blue.

But life went on as it did before. He thought of her first, and the color was an afterthought. The thoughts of soulmates and threads had left his mind for a long time. When they reappeared their interpretation was not as kind.

The memory was blurred in its build-up, with vague structure that it was maybe camping, something or other, but what happened in a specific moment was crystal clear.

It was dark and there was coldness in the air. They had been sitting by a cozy fire which was in a fire pit. Daisy sat on his right. Luigi brought a blanket to the campfire when the set began to set.

But it was folded up. Daisy opted to cling to his side. Her arms were wrapped around his torso. She coaxed the hands that were locked on his side to loosen free. He clasped her left hand.

Luigi had felt her shift her position. Daisy had faced him, tilted her head up and there was a smile on her face unlike any he had ever seen before. Her smile was soft, pure contentment in her blue eyes as she rested in his arms.

“She’s happy,” he thought, it was so mundane, but her expression sparked his brain.

It was a thought that soulmates were strung along on destiny’s threads and it didn’t seem as romantic in that tone; like they were all puppets on strings.

But here, without a single string attached, she looked at him happy and in love.

He leaned in to touch his forehead against hers. For a moment it was peaceful. A rare, impulsive idea went through his mind and he brushed his fingertips against her sides.

Daisy was quicker, and though his action earned a giggling yelp she retaliated. She had ceased the revenge tickling a good twenty seconds later. When Luigi finally got his breath back Daisy had an impish grin.

“Sorry.”

“I got even,” she had replied, cheerfully, and with no hard feelings she had promptly got back into her original position.

And the rest of this memory was blurred together again. But the seedling of the thought grew, that love, and the colors that were supposed to come with a soulmate could be found in other people; from romantic to familial to friendship. The world would be grey with a speck of color but there could still be happiness.

It was whispered, spoken, for as long as he could remember, “You’ll only be truly happy with your soulmate.” It was like it was expected to put all their happiness in one box.

It was these memories and words that Luigi reminisced on as he waited for Daisy in a plaza. He looked at his hands and made his definite resolve.

He wasn’t going to bend to the forceful want of his soulmate, or to anyone. He would love Daisy, if she would have him.

“Silly,” he heard her voice croon near his ear. “I would, always.”

Luigi should have said something in return but could only manage a quiet, short yelp. He turned around in that short second, saw her grinning face, and he reached for her. Daisy was quicker, always quicker, and her arms were around him and she planted her face against his chest as she laughed.

Luigi thought, then, that he was enormously lucky to be with her.


	2. these things will never change for us at all

Soulmates were something that happened to other people. And even then it’d probably be three out of the entire world because it was so huge.

Voicing this as a child earned Daisy the expression, “The scorn for the reward is called sour grapes,” which annoyed her further because sour grapes could taste delicious on certain days. And she didn’t secretly hate her unknown, unseen soulmate. It just seemed like a daunting situation.

Daisy did want to see the world washed in color, when she was a child. But that was different from wanting to find someone to love. And when she got older she wanted other things.

On her walk to a plaza to meet with Luigi, her musing on memories brought up something he had said, once.

It was that her namesake looked so open, like they wanted to give the world a hug, like her. In that moment, and really whenever he was in the general vicinity, she would start with him.

Daisy’s smile was replaced by gritted teeth; that if the world burst into color right now it would be expected that she would toss Luigi aside like he was nothing.

It made her stride go faster and more aggressive. She stopped herself when she slammed one foot too hard on the ground, enough to shoot pain all the way up her ankle. She resumed walking normally.

With a remnant of anger Daisy exhaled through her teeth.

If her soulmate was perfectly compatible with her in every way there would be no room for differences. So if she met her soulmate then they would know everything instantly, she thought.

They would never have to guess that she liked to grab their hand and lead them onward. She would never have to find out that they made the cutest noise when she surprised them with a hug.

She would never have a fight, like the one on a poorly going date where her words were snappy and fast and Luigi fired back with something that was quietly sharp, with enough to make them both stew in silence.

Without much thinking in their shared, angered silence they got into a line for a Ferris wheel. They climbed into a gondola, not really registering what it was until it was securely shut.

Daisy would never have to learn that Ferris wheels were terrifying when the gondola swung to and fro and that she could soothe with just her words.

“It’s okay, Luigi, it’s okay,” she had murmured, her hands against the sides of his face as she looked him in the eyes; blue eyes that were filled with unshed tears, his heartbeat racing under her palms, and she felt the tight muscles of his throat against her hands.

She had continuously run her thumbs along the nape of his neck as she spoke until she felt his fear ebb away.

And if she had been with her soulmate it never would’ve come to pass that the angry air had cooled when they got out of the gondola. Daisy was pulled into a hug. Luigi still trembled so she held on tight as an anchor to the ground.

Apologizes tumbled from his mouth and her own remorse was spoken close to his ear.

With all that in perspective it seemed that if she was with her soulmate she would never have the painful or the good in that endless life of looping static, unchanging perfect, perfect love forever and ever and ever.

“Boring!” Daisy said.

Even if her soulmate was coyly quaint, ordinary and spoke whimsically, even if her soulmate matched her in energy and manner of speak to finish her sentences, even if her soulmate was the ruler of all the seven seas with a string of mother of pearl around their neck and the sea at their command, she would turn them away.

They were supposed to make her happy but they would never have to learn how to know her.

Her train of thought was derailed when she spotted Luigi. She could only see his back, and she walked softly toward him. She was soon close enough that she could easily put her head over his shoulder. Daisy held her breath.

There was a short soliloquy from Luigi, “I’ll love Daisy, if she’d have me.”

Daisy bit back her smile, and crooned next to his ear.

“Silly. I would, always.”

There was that cute noise, Luigi turned around, and she threw herself into his arms, and laughed so easily. His hands rested on her back and it was enough to reiterate what Daisy had known for a long time.

Her soulmate was supposed to make her happy. They would know to leave, because she is happy with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this.
> 
> Soulmate AU tropes are interesting, and fun to work with; doing a deconstruction is fun, too. Like building up a Jenga tower and then intentionally pulling out a wobbly piece.  
Title and chapter titles from Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars,” though I think this [cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2URIAPegF4) fits better because it’s more wistful.  
Check out what comes before “they’re all that I can see,” it’s the inspiration for a crucial part of the fic :D
> 
> As an addendum, the Ferris wheel part came from when my friends and I went on a Ferris wheel, natch. Apparently we got into the gondola that swings the most. It was swooping back and forth so fast it was like the gondola was nearly flat on its side when it went from right to left.  
I was on cloud nine but my friends didn’t find it quite as fun. As one sufficiently put it, “I don’t like it!”


End file.
